Portable hard disk can not be accessed recently

Question

yachang_cn Author

Level 1

0 points

Portable hard disk can not be accessed recently

Hi,

Until recently, I am still able to use this portable hard disk without any issues. However it does not work now if:

1. Connect to the disk via a USB 3.0 cable.

2. The disk can be R/W correctly.

3. Leave the disk idle for a while, say 20 minutes.

4. Issue comes - all files on the disk will become inaccessible, but I can still find the disk in Disk Util.

Any suggestions to address this?

Much appreciated!

Thanks,

Chad

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4), null

Posted on Jul 2, 2015 9:02 PM

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Answer 1

yachang_cn Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 2, 2015 9:09 PM in response to yachang_cn

BTW, the disk has been working well on my laptop.

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Answer 2

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Jul 3, 2015 3:44 AM in response to yachang_cn

The external HDD may be failing as all HDDs eventually will. Open Disk Utility and run Disk Utility>First Aid. Backup your data on another HDD.

Ciao.

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Answer 3

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,102 points

Jul 3, 2015 3:50 AM in response to yachang_cn

A high disk temperature is an indication of a sooner death for a disk.

Do Repair disk as Ogel says.

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Answer 4

yachang_cn Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 26, 2015 6:10 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

It's a new disk and it works well on my windows laptop.

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Answer 5

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Jul 27, 2015 6:35 AM in response to yachang_cn

Did you check the HDD in Disk Utility?

Ciao.

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Answer 6

yachang_cn Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 27, 2015 6:27 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I did check the disk in Disk Utility and everything worked well. Not sure what's happening, but when I keep the disk idle and then it will not be accessible. I have to re-plug the disk. I also tried to format the disk using different file formats, it does not help.

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Answer 7

Jul 27, 2015 6:34 PM in response to yachang_cn

Do you have another cable to try? Try swapping cables and see if that fixes the issue.

Paul

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Answer 8

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Jul 28, 2015 2:42 AM in response to yachang_cn

Take out the bare drive and install it into a known good enclosure and test.

Ciao.

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